Amelia Chrispin
Great racing in a high quality field.
Today (Saturday 10th June) we got up bleary eyed at 02:30am so we could travel to Leeds as Amelia was taking part in the Columbia Threadneedle Leeds Tristar 2 race, organised by Triathlon England.This race would be Amelia’s most challenging yet, as some of the best athletes, from most of the Triathlon Regions in the UK, converged on rain lashed Roundhay Park in Leeds to test their selves against each other.
The rain did not let up as Amelia lined up at 07:00am (on the same pontoon that Alistair and Jonny Brownlee will use tomorrow in the Elite World ITU Race), along with over 30 other eager girls. As the horn sounded they all dived into the cold water of Rounday Park lake, for the start of the 200m swim. Amelia swam well leaving the water in 6thplace only a surprising 14 seconds behind the lead swimmer. The athletes then had to run 400m to T1 were they would leave behind their wetsuits and recover their bikes, helmets and trainers ready for the bike section.
Amelia had the fastest transition of the day and started the 5km of the bike section in =1st position. The first part of the bike section was a really testing steep hill the athletes had to negotiate. This race was slightly different to most of the children’s races as it was draft legal which, for Amelia, fortunately meant she could tuck herself behind the fastest cyclist in the field. Although the lead girl tried to shake off Amelia at various times on the course, Amelia doggedly stuck behind her rear wheel, meaning she could exert less effort and still have a really fast bike section.
Amelia and the lead girl entered T2 for the final time quite a bit ahead of the rest of the field and Amelia set off for the final part of the race, the 1.7km run in 1st place. Amelia really pushed the pace from the start, another testing hill, and left the 2nd girl quite far behind. She continued to run well and crossed the line and took the winners ribbon in a fantastic 1st place, nearly 20 seconds ahead of her next nearest rival. Shortly afterwards she was presented with her 1st place trophy.
A fantastic result considering the calibre of the opposition. We then went home to wring ourselves out!
